I. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a system of devices that acts to track movements of items for various purposes including to alert the user that an item has been misplaced. In particular, the present disclosure relates to tracking movements of golf clubs and alerting a golfer that a golf club has been misplaced. In the context herein, it should be understood that a misplaced golf club is a golf club that has been lost, accidentally left behind, forgotten, or otherwise not returned to the golf bag or to close proximity to the golf bag due to circumstances other than the use of the golf club as part of normal golf play.
II. Description of Related Art
There are several known approaches to solving the problem of misplaced golf clubs. However, shortcomings are apparent in each of the systems disclosed in the past. U.S. Pat. No. 6,366,205 describes a system comprising sensors associated with golf clubs and an interrogator operative to obtain an inventory of golf clubs present in a golf bag and a controller operative to detect the absence from an inventory of a club that was present in a previous inventory. The absent club is treated by this system as “missing”, and the system responds by activating an alarm. However, in the vast majority of cases in practice, the absent club would actually be in use by the golfer, not misplaced, creating a constant annoyance to the user as the alarm was activated each time a club was used as part of normal play.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,042,918, 4,489,314, 5,565,845, 6,377,175 and 6,774,792 require that an apparatus be fitted to the top of a golf bag or inside a golf bag, with individual holes or tubes, one for each golf club, each hole or tube containing an electromechanical switch or other sensor to detect the presence of a golf club. This apparatus would be bulky and require myriad versions to fit the myriad different shapes and sizes of golf bags, making such prior art examples quite expensive and cumbersome to the user. Furthermore, it would be inconvenient for the golfer to be required to carefully place a golf club in a fitted hole or tube within the bag.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,042,918, 6,366,205, 6,411,211 and 7,605,705 include methods that do not detect when a club has been actually misplaced, nor activate an alarm appropriately, instead just activating an alarm whenever a club is removed from the bag, which could cause a constant annoyance to the user as clubs are removed during normal play.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,952,921, 6,057,762 and 6,118,376 comprise devices attached to golf clubs wherein the devices transmit, reflect, or in some way emit radio-frequency (RF) signals, and further comprise an RF receiver attached to the golf bag, with an alarm that is activated if an emitting device is beyond a certain threshold distance from the receiver. This method implies that the emitting device must be in RF contact with the receiver during all normal play and should be out of RF contact only in the case of a lost or misplaced place. Clubs may be more than 100 yards away from the receiver during normal play (whether the receiver is attached to the golf bag or carried by the golfer). Therefore, the emitting device must be able to transmit a signal continuously to the receiver over distances greater than 100 yards. This is problematic because it requires a relatively high-power emitting device, and thus the device is relatively expensive and requires relatively large batteries, which would have relatively short life. Also, additional problems could arise if there were any trees, buildings, hills, or other obstacles between the club and the receiver as would often occur during normal play, in which case the RF link would be broken and the alarm would activate, erroneously indicating a misplaced club.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,782,443 is a mechanical device meant to enable a golfer to put down a golf club in such a way that it is held vertically so that it will be easily visible and thus will supposedly not be lost or misplaced. Such devices are cumbersome for the golfer to carry and disrupt normal play to some degree. Also, the golfer must remember to carry the device whenever he will have occasion to place a club down on the ground, which largely defeats the purpose of a lost club prevention system—to alleviate problems caused by forgetfulness.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,407,667 includes an RF transmitter not attached to a golf club, but contained in a separate device upon which a golf club is meant to be rested when it is placed down on the ground. It communicates via RF with a receiver that is meant to be carried on the golfer's person, and an alarm is activated if the distance between the receiver and transmitter exceeds a certain threshold distance. This type of system is cumbersome because it requires the golfer to carry extra devices; it is disruptive to the normal style of play; and since it requires the golfer to remember to use the device whenever he places a club down on the ground, it largely defeats the purpose of a lost club prevention system—to alleviate problems caused by forgetfulness.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,205,894 requires that a belt or some other apparatus be wrapped around the golf bag. This will be undesirable to the golfer because such an apparatus will be unsightly and will likely impede access to and desired use of the pockets, handles, and carrying straps of the golf bag.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system that reliably alerts the golfer when a club has been misplaced (as opposed to alerting the golfer that a club is in use), does not utilize a large amount of energy, and does not disrupt the golfer's normal style and method of play.
All references cited herein are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.